Date Night
by E. M. Morning
Summary: Lucy goes on a date, leaving Michael on babysitting duty.


Date Night

Lucy Emerson has never been a big player in the game of dating. She would rather be the spectator, watching all of the other happy couples in love, instead of joining the fight to find a decent man. She had only dated a few guys before settling down with her now ex-husband. But now that he is out of the picture and her both of her boys do not need her as much, Lucy finds herself to be feeling rather lonely, lonely enough to back on her armor and join the blood battlefield of dating. Once she, along with her kids, packed up their belongings and moved to Santa Carla to live with her father, Lucy believed that it may possibly be a little bit easier to find a new love interest. It started off well, better than she expected. It seemed as if she struck gold with the first man she met. He was polite, intelligent and a little bit quirky. He was just about perfect!

But only just about. There were a few problems and, sadly, the relationship did not end a good note. After that, Lucy had even less interest in dating than she had before. It was not until one night when she was approached again by another man did she reconsider dating. She was reluctant, of course, but did end up agreeing to meet him for dinner.

Her boys, Michael and Sam, however, were not nearly as pleased with this, which was one of the main reasons why Lucy had been hesitant with going out again. They had many questions, most having to do with what type of man her date is. Sam, the younger of the two, was the most concerned and was quick to get to the point.

"Is he a vampire?" Sam had demanded right after his mother announced the news.

"No, of course not!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Have you met him in the day time?"

"Sam-."

"I should call the Frog brothers to check him out."

"Sam," Lucy repeated, sternly. "I think I can handle this myself."

Although Lucy had sounded sure of herself when she told her son this, she in fact had been asking herself just the same question. It was not likely to happen again, Lucy tells herself. What are the chances that she will find herself another vampire boyfriend, even in a town like Santa Carla? But now that she knows the truth about the existence of the supernatural, the thought stays in her mind and it once again makes an appearance she applies her makeup for the night. It was ridiculous, of course. Surely she would have noticed something this time.

But still…

The doorbell rings. Lucy checks the alarm clock beside her bed; he is over thirty minutes early and she is nowhere near finished getting ready. A loud thundering of footsteps came from downstairs, passing through the living room, right towards the front door. Sam's voice rings out above the commotion, "I'll get it!" For a moment Lucy is relieved; this will give her more time to finish up. The feeling quickly fades as she realizes that this is not necessarily beneficial. Sam will be with her date, alone and free to fully interrogate. Lucy picks up her pace, trying her best not to smudge her makeup in the process, hoping that she will manage to be finish in time to save her date and not look like a complete mess.

In a manner of minutes Lucy is able to pull herself together, complete with a dress that she had recently bought, and quickly rushes down the stairs. "Mark," she begins to say, but stops once she realizes that there is no one in the room aside from Michael, who had the recently installed television set playing.

He turns towards her. "Mark?"

"Yes." Lucy looks about the room, feeling slightly confused. "He's my date. I heard the doorbell ring and Sammy answered, so I assumed he would be here. Maybe I'm just so nervous that I am starting to imagine things."

"It did," Michael says, "But it was Sam's weird friends, not Mark."

"Edgar and Alan are here?" This is worse that she had thought. Although Lucy did not mind having the Frog brothers around, she was thrilled that her Sam made friends so quickly, but she did not approve of their vampire hunting talk very much, especially when they get Sam pulled into it. There was little hope of having a nice, normal date night if the Frog brothers were here to help Sam with his investigation.

"Yeah, they're in the kitchen." Michael examines his mother's expression. He knows what she is thinking; he can see the worry in her eyes and he can't help but smile. "You're afraid that they are going to crash your little date, aren't you?"

"Sammy had said something earlier about wanting them to come over to investigate," Lucy says. "They tried it once before when I had Max over."

"But you won't be at home this time. You're going to be out, so they won't have the chance to do much. Unless you think they will follow."

Lucy considers the possibility. It would be unlikely if it were just Sam on his own, but Edgar and Alan took their jobs as Santa Carla's vampire hunters very seriously. It would not be surprising in the least if they did stalking her, just to make sure that this Mark is definitely not a vampire or any other sort of super natural creature. "I'm going to need you to keep them busy," she says.

"How?"

"I don't know! Just find something that will keep them distracted long enough. I believe I saw that Mary Poppins was supposed to be-."

Michael raises his eyebrows in question. "You want me to watch Mary Poppins with them? Sorry, Mom, I love you and all but-."

"It was only a suggestion," Lucy interrupts. "I don't want them watching some horror or action movie and getting them all riled up. Just please do anything to keep them busy. I promise that I will pay you back for it later."

"Can't Grandpa watch them?"

"No. He's going to the drop off some more of…his work soon."

Just as Michael is about to reply, Sam walks into the room with Frog brothers in tow. Sam looks out of place next to the brothers, as he does with most things. His styled hair and flashy smile and clothing are a stark contrast to his solemn faced friends and their serious, military style. But despite their differences and for reasons Michael cannot really understand, these are people his little brother chose to be friends with. The two Frogs study him as they pass, still unsure if he is totally cured of vampirism. Michael smiles at them and Alan narrows his eyes, trying to get a better look to make sure there are no fangs.

"We got you something, Mom," Sam says. He digs into his pocket and pulls out a tiny perfume bottle.

"Thank you, sweetie," Lucy says as she takes the bottle from her son's hand. "But I already have some perfume."

"Oh, it's not perfume, Mom. We took one of those sample ones they give out at the mall and filled it with holy water instead. Now you can just spray this guy and if he starts to burn, then you know he's a vampire!"

Michael tries to keep himself from erupting into laughter and Lucy merely smiles. "Thank you, boys," she says, "but I don't think I will be needing this."

"Mom-."

"You can never be too careful when it comes to the undead," Edgar cuts in.

"Yes, I suppose," Lucy says, slowly. She looks to Michael for help.

"It sounds like a good idea to me," he says.

The doorbell rings again and this time Lucy makes sure she is the one to answer it. The three young teens gather behind her in hopes to get a good look at this Mark. The three hunters feel disappointed; this man is boring, average at best. He stands in the doorway, wearing a nervous grin and a slightly over sized sweater with a pattern that even Sam would dub too disturbing to wear. He is on the shorter side, barely an inch taller than Lucy, perhaps two to be generous. His black hair is not as dark as the night sky as a vampire may have; it is streaked with grey and is beginning to thin at the crown of the head. There is nothing outright alarming about this man, but, as the hunters reminded themselves, there was not much to Max at first either.

"Hello," Mark says. He had been nervous enough with only going up to the door to get his date, but when he was greeted by not only this woman he found slightly intimated by, as he often did around women in general, but as well a group of teenage boys, yet another type of people he was fearful of, Mark was just about ready to pass out right then and there. One, the boy in the middle, seemed to be nice enough, but there was something unnatural and unnerving about the other two sullen children. The intensity in their eyes, the cool, calculating way they examined him frightened Mark and he feared that they would soon bare some animal like teeth and attack him, leaving him to shreds. That is, if he does not allow himself to pass out first.

"I did not know you had so many kids," Mark said, cautiously.

Lucy glanced behind her at the leering group. "Oh, no, I only have two! This one," she says, placing a hand gently on Sam's head. "This is Sam; he's my youngest. Michael is somewhere back there. These two are Sammy's little friends."

Edgar and Alan take a moment away from observing to glare at Mrs. Emerson, both clearly offended by her description.

"Yes," Mark says. He begins to recognize the outsiders. "I believe I have seen them around before. You two work in the comic book store on the boardwalk, right?"

Edgar nods curtly in reply, but says nothing. He checks the man's nails; they do not look to be abnormally long and, as far as Edgar can tell, his breath does not smell of death. He only reeks of cheap cologne. They will have to try the holy water or possibly the mirror test to be totally sure.

"We should get going," Lucy says. She quickly kisses Sam on the head and tells him to be good. "Michael, please remember to do what I asked."

"No problem."

Sam looks back at his older brother to his mother. "What? What is he supposed to do?"

"Nothing, sweetie," Lucy says as she heads out the door. "Have fun, boys! Goodnight!"

Sam and the Frog brothers wait at the door until Lucy and Mark are out of sight. "So what do you guys thing?" Sam asks.

"He's got potential," Edgar says in his serious vampire hunter tone. "We'll need to investigate further to find out."

"Good idea. Hey, Mike!" Sam calls before walking outside. "We're going to the boardwalk!"

Michael looks over at the boys but does not bother to get up from the couch. "No you aren't," he says.

"Why?"

"Mom said you're supposed to stay home."

"No she didn't. She said for us to be good and we will be good. At the boardwalk."

"You're not going."

Sam scoffs. "You can't tell us what to do, bud."

"I can," Michael says, now getting up. "Mom said that I am in charge and to keep you three crazies in the house."

"Why?"

"So you don't follow her and ruin her date."

"Her date is going to be ruined if she ends up being eaten," Edgar says in a matter of fact tone.

Sam cringes at the thought. They had come close to it before, it could happen again. "You can't stop all three of us," he says. He's finding it easier to talk back to his brother with Edgar and Alan there for backup. Perhaps he should keep them around all of the time.

"You wouldn't try," Michael answers.

The three young hunters exchange looks. It's three against one, and even if Michael is bigger, at least one of them should be able to escape. Sam takes a step backwards further out the door, testing his brother. Michael walks forward. He looks at them, trying to pinpoint which will be the easiest to catch. He notices a slight bit of apprehension in Alan's features, how he bites the inside of his cheek as the boys walk further out onto the porch as Michael draws closer. He should be easier to get to listen, Michael says to himself. He is quieter and more of a follower than his brother. Plus, he will have less of a drive to protect Lucy compared to Sam.

"Alan," Michael says. "Get over here."

Alan is taken aback by the authority in Michael's voice. He pauses and looks to his brother as if he is unsure of what to do. Edgar shakes his head: no, he should not listen. Alan looks back at Michael, who stands still now with his arms across his chest. He looks intimidating, especially when Alan thinks back to him as a vampire.

"You can't make us stay," Sam says.

"Sammy, you're going to make Mom upset. You know she doesn't get to go out all that often; you can't ruin this for her."

"But-."

"You already gave her that holy water. You can take care of herself."

"But, Mike-."

"And I will beat you up once you get back," Michael threatens. "All three of you."

The three boys stop then and look at each other, debating the threat was true enough. Michael had never hit Sam before, at least not to be harmful, but he did fear that his brother would follow through with his threat for the sake of their mother. Their investigation would have to be put on hold for now. "Fine," he says. "But you better order pizza."

* * *

><p>Going on a date with any man can make a woman nervous, but if that woman has just gotten out of a bad relationship, especially one with a vampire, the experience can be even more nerve racking. During the drive to the restaurant, Lucy suffered through awkward conversations, many of which she tried to start herself. It mostly involved her asking Mark questions to which he answered simply, in as few of words as possible. He could just be shy, Lucy told herself, which may be a good sign. Max had been very charismatic and engaging, always wanting to know more about her life. Shy could be a good thing. Well, unless he is a shy vampire, if there is such a thing. Lucy shakes her head at the thought. No, what is she thinking? She is starting to sound like those Frog children. There is nothing to worry about.<p>

"Is everything alright?" Mark asks. He sounds truly concerned, and this makes Lucy smile.

"Yes, I'm fine," she says. "I was just thinking about something my son said."

"Oh."

The conversation died and Lucy is not sure if she wants to pick it up from there again. Instead, she tries another question. "Do you have any kids?"

"Oh, no," Mark replies. "I never really thought about being a dad. Kids kind of scare me."

This is not an answer Lucy is too happy with considering she still has at least one child that is still rather young at home. Things do not seem to be working out in her favor already. "Really? Why?"

Mark shrugs. "There's just something about them. They never listen, they have no respect. They just don't seem to care about anything."

"So do adults," Lucy says. "It depends on the person and partially how they have been raised."

"Unless they are naturally bad. Some people just are; they can't help it."

Lucy chews on the thought. "I suppose so."

Aside from their names starting with the same letter, Mark and Max did not have many similarities between them. Not only was Max more outgoing and open, he also had very nice manners, an area that Mark was lacking in. Sure Max may have been a monster out after her family, but at least he had the courtesy to open doors and pretended that he was interested in what she was saying. Of course Lucy had no problem opening a door for herself, considering how menial of a task is, but it she was not very pleased when Mark had walked in the restaurant, allowing the door to shut in her face. It could just be a careless mistake, Lucy told herself, but she was not all that impressed.

Still, Lucy tries to keep an optimistic view. This night may be starting out in a shaky start, but it could get better. It often does.

As they took their seats at the restaurant, Lucy realizes that she had forgotten to check the mirrors in the car for Mark's reflection. It was a silly thought and she realized that, but it would not leave her mind. It would be easy to check, much simpler than having to use that holy water Sam had given her, and would also give her some peace of mind. It could be rather difficult to enjoy being around a person and try to get to know them better when one is constantly wondering if they are a vampire. She must find out and get it over with, just to be sure.

While Mark quietly examines his menu, Lucy digs through her purse, searching for her compact disk. She glances up at the man across the table. He is not paying any sort of attention to her. His eyes are still on the menu, seemingly enthralled by it, brow scrunched together as if he is having trouble making out the words or coming up with a selection. His mouth moves in slow and silent as he reads off the menu to himself. Despite her best efforts, Lucy could not locate her compact mirror, figuring she must have misplaced it or left it on another purse. She curses her luck. Now Mark's true identity will have to be left in question. Just before she closes her purse, Lucy notices the small bottle holy water that she had quickly tossed into her purse to keep Sam happy. She considers taking it out; just one little squirt would not do much damage. If it was proven to be true that Mark is indeed part of the undead, the water would only burn a little and then she would be able to escape to safety. And if turned out that he was not vampire, which was the most likely outcome, and then she would know and be able to relax a little more. Well, it would be rather awkward having to explain to him why she had just sprayed him but surely she could come up with some sort of logical explanation without having to drop the supernatural being theory. By the looks of it, Mark would probably not notice if Lucy poured a whole bucket of holy water on him. At least he would not as long as he had that menu in front of him.

Lucy closes the purse and sets it aside out of view and out of mind. It would be best not to risk it. She is worrying too much over something that most likely does not exist. "So," she says, trying to keep her voice sounding bright. "Have you decided what to get?"

Mark briefly looks up and mumbles something that she did not quite catch. Lucy sighs to herself as begins to read her own menu. This is going to be a long night, she says to herself. Hopefully the boys are enjoying themselves more.

* * *

><p>Michael sits on the couch, blankly starting at the television. It is Friday night. He should be out at the boardwalk, living up his youth. He should be hanging out with Star or partying with other friends, not stuck at home, watching his little brother and weird friends, who are too old to need a babysitter. He should be doing something fun and watching Mary Poppins with a bunch of kids is certainly not even close to being on his list of fun things to do on a Friday night. It was not what Michael planned, obviously. That was supposed to be only a last resort if he could not get the boys under control.<p>

They had already tried to escape a few times, one being when the pizza delivery man came to the door, causing Michael to nearly knock the poor guy over when he went after Sam. After that, he made the boys remove their shoes so that he may hide them somewhere, making their chances of escape smaller. Edgar and Alan were reluctant to hand over their combat boots, but grudgingly released them after enough threats. Michael started to believe that they were doing this not to find Lucy and whatever his name is, but to purposely annoy him as a form of entertainment. He had nearly lost all of his patience when he brought up the movie, and it was a final hope of a successful distraction. Sam had been against it at first, at least until he learned that neither Alan nor Edgar had seen it before. He was both horrified and delighted at this discovery.

"How have you not seen Mary Poppins?" Sam had asked.

The brothers shrugged. They did not have time to watch movies. The only ones they saw were the old horror movies that their mother liked to play over and over. So it was decided: they will watch Mary Poppins.

The movie is not all that enjoyable to Michael. He had seen it before and, well, he was too old for these sorts of things. He tries his best to space it out and keep his sanity, occasionally glancing over at the three boys he was left in charge of to make sure that no one was planning on leaving. Oddly enough, they all seem to be pretty interested, though Sam appeared to be getting more entertainment out of watching Edgar's and Alan's reactions.

"How does she do that?" Edgar asks. He narrows his eyes at the screen, trying to figure out how Mary Poppins manages to slide up a stair railing.

"Magic," Sam answers.

"So she's a witch?"

"A witch? You think Mary Poppins is a witch? What the hell are you on, bud?"

"You said she uses magic," Edgar says. "Witches use magic."

Sam shakes his head. Calling Mary Poppins a witch was right near blasphemy, at least it is in his book, but he did not want to spark a debate. Winning an argument over the supernatural is near impossible, if not impossible. He looks over at the other Frog brother, Alan, who has yet to say one word during the movie. Alan stares at the television screen, seemingly engrossed in film. "Hey," Sam says, jabbing Alan in the shoulder. "Enjoying the movie?"

Alan is startled by the sudden movement, but quickly regains his solemn composure. "No," he answers blandly.

"You better not," Edgar says.

"I'm not."

Sam grins. There are few moments when he has the chance to make fun of either of the Frog brothers, but when one of those moments does happen to pass by, Sam takes full advantage of it. "It's alright if you like it, Alan."

"I don't."

"I mean I can understand-."

Alan turns towards Sam and gives him a glare. "I don't like the movie."

"Hey, no need to get all defensive, buddy! It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Sammy," Michael says sounding tired, "if you don't cut it out I am going to have to beat you up."

Sam sinks lower into the couch. "Fine," he pouts. "I'm sorry that I bothered you. I forgot how much you love this. You know, I bet Star wouldn't appreciate the way you're looking at Mary there."

"You are really asking for it, aren't you?"

Sam sighs, defeated. He has grown bored with the movie, already having seen it a few times before and the novelty of watching it with the Frog brothers was starting wear off. Now, he not only was he stuck in the house under the rule of his uptight older brother, Sam is no longer to enjoy a good game of teasing. There has to be something else to kill the time, he thinks. Sam pick at the fabric of the couch as he tries to think of another activity to ease his growing boredom. Suddenly, an idea, a brilliant one- or so it is in his opinion- comes forth in his mind, and Sam grins, ready to gamble his safety for one more chance of mischief. "Mike," he says. "I'm hungry."

"You already ate."

"Yeah, but I'm still hungry." Sam waits for his brother to reply, and when Michael does not, he tries to dig further, making his voice sound even whinier. "You are a terrible babysitter. I'm going to tell Mom that you wouldn't feed us."

"I did feed you."

"But I'm still hungry! Would you let your own brother starve?"

"You're not going to starve."

Sam whimpers, trying his best to sound annoyingly pathetic.

"Fine," Michael says as he gets up from the couch. "But you better shut up after this."

"I will! And don't forget about our guests!" Sam waits until Michael is in the kitchen to make his next move. "Alright, guys, let's go," he says, keeping his voice low. Neither of the Frog brothers seems to have heard him. They continue to stare at the television; Alan with the same fascinated expression from before and Edgar with a more critical one as if he is trying to decipher what were Mary Poppin's true motives with using witch craft to clean the nursery.

"Come on, guys," Sam tries again. "Let's go before he gets back."

"Where are we going?" Edgar asks.

"Somewhere; anywhere to hide from Michael."

"Why are we hiding from Michael?"

"Because I enjoy messing with my brother," Sam answers. He jumps up, trying his best to keep quiet as he moves across the floor. Edgar hesitates, but follows after him. They are about to go upstairs when Sam notices that Alan is not with them. "Alan!"

Alan snaps attention away from the television, suddenly aware that he was alone.

"We need to go!" Sam says, struggling to keep his voice low. Alan quickly follows, but Sam stops him just as he is about to reach the stairs. "Open the front door, just a little so he thinks we left."

Alan pulls the door open, leaving a tiny amount of space. He turns around and looks for his friend's approval. Sam flashes him a thumbs up. This is going to be fun. Well, it will be only if Michael does not find them.

Michael returns to the living room carrying a plate holding three sandwiches. It does not take him long to notice that something is off; all three boys are missing. "Sam?" he asks. Michael sets the plates down on the coffee table, and then also notices that the front door has been left slightly opened. "Fucking hell."

* * *

><p>When the waiter had come to take their order, Lucy made sure that garlic bread would be a part of it. Mark had been reluctant- too strong for this taste- but caved. She continued to try to make small talk, but found herself struggling to come up with enough topics. This date seems to be turning out to be more work than pleasure; another reminder of why she did not enjoy dating. There are so many different things that she could be doing, like working at the video store or spending time at home with her boys. She then thought of Michael and wondered how he was handling his babysitting.<p>

Lucy is glad when the food finally arrived, now knowing that she could take a break from making boring small talk. They had both ordered spaghetti, and Mark dug into it right away. It was the happiest he had looked the whole night. As Lucy swirled some off the noodles onto her fork, she realizes that this was the same dish that she served when Max came over. That was when Sam and his strange, little friends tried all of their tests. For one of them Sam had given Max raw garlic, and though Lucy thought it was terribly rude at the time, it sounded like a good idea now. She reaches forward and takes a piece of garlic bread from a basket. She eats part of it, hoping it was enough to make her motives look less suspicious.

"This is great!" Lucy exclaims in an overly exaggerated manner. "You should try some!"

Mark regards the bread for a moment, but shakes his head. "No thanks," he says. "I'm not really a big fan of garlic."

Lucy found this interesting, but many people do not like garlic. "But this is really good. It's not too strong."

"Fine," Mark says reluctantly. He grabs a piece of garlic bread and takes a small bite from it. Almost immediately, his face contorts into an expression of disgust. He quickly sets the bread down and returns to his spaghetti.

"What do you think?" Lucy asks.

"It's alright. But like I said, I don't really like garlic. There is just something about it that makes me feel sick."

Lucy wonders if that is how a vampire would react if it consumed garlic. It had no effect on Max since he had been invited in so she had nothing to go off of. Lucy begins to wish that she had listened to Sam more when he was going on about vampire prevention. She could wait until later on in the date for when they come close a mirror again to see if Mark had a reflection, but who knows how long it will take for that opportunity to come up. It may already be too late by then.

No, that is crazy talk. Lucy knows that she is not that paranoid. But she has every right to be, though, which is something else she acknowledges. She cannot risk letting another vampire into her family. They have already been through enough this summer; she must find out now.

There is still the holy water, the little vile that Sam had given her before leaving. That would work just as well as the mirror. Lucy digs into her purse, searching for the sampler perfume. "I got the loveliest sample of perfume today," she says as she pulls out the small bottle. "Would you like smell it?"

Mark looks up from spaghetti. There is a little bit of sauce left on the corners of his mouth of which he is completely obvious of. Lucy resists giving into her motherly instincts and wiping it right off of him before anyone else notices. "Uh, sure," he says.

"Here" Lucy leans forward, stretching herself across the table so that she is closer to him. She presses down on the tap three times, releasing the contents. Mark expects to get a whiff of perfume but ends up getting his face misted by the holy water. He jumps back, feeling startled by the amount of water he was hit with.

For a moment all that Lucy can think is "Vampire!". She soon realizes that she is wrong. Mark's face does not melt or burn or react in any way like a vampire should; he is indeed fully human. Embarrassment begins to set in. She will have to leave now even if Mark is not a vampire.

"What was that?" Mark asks as he wipes his face with a napkin. "That wasn't perfume."

Lucy pauses to come up with a good excuse. "Oh, it was," she says, stumbling over her words. "I suppose it was not that good, though."

"It didn't even have a smell. Maybe they have you wrong thing?"

"Probably," Lucy says, quietly as she picks at her food. If only he knew what was really in that bottle and what it was meant for

* * *

><p>Michael has searched for Sam and his friends everywhere. He started with looking outside, but could only find their bikes that had been left in the front yard. He moved on back into the house, checking every single room but he could still not find them. He even looked in Grandpa's work room, quickly searching amongst the animal carcasses for the three young teens. Still, they were nowhere to be found.<p>

Michael sighs in defeat as he flops down onto his bed. They would have to come out eventually, though, and when they did he will be sure to get his revenge. Just as he was about to get comfortable, Michael hears a car pulling up into the drive way. It had to be his mother, if it were Grandpa he would be blaring that god awful horn of his. Michael checks the clock by his bed. It's still early, much earlier than she had said she was going to be home. He is not ungrateful, though; this only means he is released of his babysitting duties sooner. That is, if he can find them first.

As he walks down the stairs, Michael meets his mother just as she opens the door. "Hey, Mom," he says.

"Hi, Michael," Lucy says as she walks further into the living room. Her voice sounds tired and she looks just the same. "Hi, boys."

Michael turns around and notices that all three boys had returned to the couch, still watching the movie. "Where did you guys go?"

Sam looks behind the couch and grins once he sees the look of frustration on his brother's face. "Nowhere, Mike. We've been here the whole time! Right, guys?" Edgar and Alan nod, not bothering to look away from the television. "See?"

"No," Michael says. "You made me get you food and when I came back-." He pauses. This is not a good time to argue with Sam; he simply does not have the energy or motivation left to do it.

"How was your night?" Lucy asks.

"Boring," Sam says. "We watched Mary Poppins. Edgar and Alan haven't seen it before."

"Oh. Did you boys enjoy it?"

He shakes his head. "Edgar thinks she's a witch or something like that."

"And she is too full of herself," Edgar adds. "I would say she is far from practically perfect."

Sam tries to withhold laughter as he pats Edgar on the head much to his friend's annoyance. "You are one strange kid," Sam says. "Mom, can they stay for the rest of the night."

"Sure. It's already getting late."

"What is another movie we can watch that you haven't seen?" Sam asks Edgar and Alan. "Cinderella? Snow White?" The two brothers slowly turn their heads towards him. Their expressions are enough of an answer.

"How did your date go, Mom?" Michael asks.

Lucy rubs her forehead; just the thought alone gives her a headache. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow. I have a feeling, though, that I won't be going on another one any time soon."

* * *

><p><strong>Rushed? Yeah, kind of! I started this during breaks between dance recital practices and typed up during time that was meant to be studying for my finals. I am past the point of caring about my education at the moment. There are only two days left! Two! Alright, I'll stop and apologize for this. It was only one of those random ideas that got stuck in my head, and would not leave until I got it out. So, thank you for reading!<strong>


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